Office of Government Ethics Asking Trump For Copies Of Appointees’ Waivers
Trump has issued waivers for people he is appointing to his administration exempting them from government ethics rules.
Donald Trump’s ongoing ethics mess just got even messier. According to a new report, the Office of Government Ethics has asked the Trump administration for copies of any waivers it has issued to grant its appointees exemptions to government ethics rules.
A new report by ABC News notes that the independent government watchdog wrote a letter to the trump administration requesting the information by June 1.
While the White House has the authority to grant waivers and the Obama administration also issued waivers the practice is rare. According to Walter Shaub, the Office of Government Ethics’ director, when the Obama administration issued waivers, it did so “under a narrow set of circumstances.” The OGE would also publicly post the waiver grant exceptions on its website during the Obama administration.
Another practice of the Obama administration that Trump has broken is to post publicly each exemption they granted on the Office of Government Ethics website.
Trump has issued waivers allowing lobbyists to enter his administration and work on crafting White House policy on the same industries they used to work for – and will likely work again.
